Ground troops needed to defeat Daesh

Daesh is still recruiting more Europeans, Tunisians, Saudi Arabians and Jordanians. A monthly salary of $700 for new jihadists is a tempting income for unemployed youth in areas where more than 47 per cent of the population lives under the United Nations accepted poverty line.

Recent reports indicate that more than 15,000 jihadists were killed as a result of the air attacks launched by the US, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The same reports indicate, however, that this left no dent on Daesh.

From Jordan, the group’s flag is visible, hoisted on the nearest Iraqi border town of Ramadi, where the Iraqi army, lacking the willpower to fight, withdrew without combat, just as it did a year ago from Mosul.

Although the Jordanian security forces are alert to all the challenges, and no immediate danger threatens our people, we have to realise the nature of the renowned moving sands of Arabian political developments where ideological volcanoes erupt unexpectedly.

Years ago, it would have been a nightmare to imagine an Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, Jabhat Al Nusra, controlling the Syrian border town of Daraa, as well as large swathes of land on the Golan Heights.

It would have also been unbelievable to say that half of Qadhafi’s military arsenal would end up in the hands of Wilayet Sinai Province militias who profess allegiance to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and his Daesh Iraqi lieutenants.

Though some of the militias in Sinai are Egyptians, many are Palestinians who had acquired their fighting skills and guerrilla warfare tactics while fighting the red army in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Others are Arab bedouins, from the Naqab Desert and the city of Beir Saba who have their tribal and personal vendetta against both the Egyptians and the Israeli occupation officers.

Daesh managed to raise a fortune from the sale of oil on the black market, as well as from the sale of rare antiquities from Iraq and Palmyra. 

Its full coffers are open to those organisations that declared allegiance to Baghdadi, like Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Mujahedeen in Libya or the Fighting Vanguards in Algeria.

To put an end to Daesh, ground troops have to be sent to fight them, including a Unified Military Contingent as proposed by Arab League Secretary General Nabil El Araby.

Tehran, with its vested interest in Iraq, might be of great help to those ground forces.

The Daesh tentacles have already reached Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Tunisia.

Though the Jordanian security forces have neutralised Daesh domestically, proactive action should be taken to defeat the group by ground troops.